+78 kg: Tomita Finally Has Her Gold

The Chinese women remain close, Su ahead of Xu by 500 points, catchable in Abu Dhabi. Ozdemir is ahead of Ozturk by 300 points for the Turkish team, even closer than the Chinese duo. 400 points separate Kamps and Stevenson (NED), both still in direct qualification positions and so had everything to fight for in Abu Dhabi.

Vukovic, Radic and Sutalo are all below the green zone and none have the points required for a continental quota spot but anything can happen at a world championships. Radic and Sutalo may now be out of Olympic contention but a good result for Vukovic could see her sneak in at the last minute. Sutalo is the second entrant in Abu Dhabi from Croatia.

Renee Lucht is the leading German, the only heavyweight in direct qualification but she is not present in Abu Dhabi whereas Bouizgarne is and a place in the final would see her scramble past Lucht.

With all that said, how did it go?

Su (CHN) was beaten by Ozturk (TUR) in the third round, putting the leading Chinese woman out and sending Ozturk into the top 8 as a minimum. Fontaine (FRA) also came through pool A but was also beaten by the Turk.

Pool B saw Hayun Kim (KOR) fly through the rounds until a meeting with Tomita (JPN) stopped her in her tracks. A waza-ari and 3 penalties cemented it, sending the Korean into the repechage. Tomita was also responsible for Amarsaikhan (MGL), Nunes (POR) and Maan (IND) congregating in the changing rooms early. Maan reaching round three though could impact the continental quota places in Asia.

While Tomita controlled the bottom half of that pool, Kim had taken out Kamps, meaning Stevenson had a chance to turn the tables on the ranking list.

Xu and Ozdemir met in their respective quarter-final, in accordance with the seedings, excellent future prospect Mao Arai (JPN) being one of the casualties of the former. Ozdemir put an end to the day’s campaign being waged by Ortiz who had knocked Bouizgarne out, assisting Lucht even in her absence, but it was Ozdemir who eventually reached the semi-final. She moved well, attacked to score and clearly wanted to show her best judo. It was the right approach!

Karen Stevenson (NED) had an outstanding morning session, going all in. Souza (BRA) topped pool D, an experienced fighter with world medals from Doha, Tashkent and Hungary on her wall, had to bow out but not before removing Hyeonji Lee from the sheets, ensuring Kim would suffer no last minute upset. Stevenson threw for waza-ari with seoi-otoshi but Souza then threw through a straight arm and was disqualified accordingly.

Sadly for the Dutchwoman she was thrown and held by Tavano (ITA), an up and coming star of Italian judo. She’s strong and technical but also seems to be having great fun out on the tatami. She’s always a pleasure to watch.

Stevenson then lost to Xu in the repechage meaning there was only one round of difference to calculate between the two Dutch competitors, points-wise, not enough for Stevenson to pass Kamps.

Both Turks reaching the semi-final stages could cause the selection issues to continue for team Turkiye but in the end they came up with their own solution. Ozturk was thrown with uchi-mata by Tomita while Ozdemir threw Tavano with a huge, dynamic harai-makikomi to make it to her frist world final, at the age of 36. She has two bronze medals, 2018 and 2019, but haas finally gone at least one better!

The first bronze medal fight was contested by Hayun Kim and Asya Tavano. It was all-action from the get-go, both judoka looking for the big attacks. Kim was the victor though, throwing Tavano with an uchi-mata to makikomi conbination. This is Kim's first world medal at senior level.

Shiyan Xu and Hilal Ozturk fought for the second bronze medal. Ozturk also took a first world medal after throwing Xu for a waza-ari and withstanding a great deal of pressure from the Chinese athlete. It was an emotional victory for the Turk, knowing that both Turkish flags would fly over the podium in Abu Dhabi. It may not be enough to earn the Olympic selection but it is an honorable result in its own right.

Tomita and Ozdemir fought a short but great final, however, on this occasion Ozdemir was outclassed. Wakaba Tomita threw with ashi-guruma and sealed the victory with a ten second hold to become world champion for the first time at senior level having won a junior gold in 2015.